offaly 1-10 galway 1-24 NHL 20/02/2011

[old yellar]

Although I wasn't at the match, I can agree that at times selection baffles me. I made the point with verney being cleaned one week and not being considered the next. Stephen wynne at corner forward seems an odd one.. The nest comment I saw all week in any sport wAs about an Offaly sub and operation transformation!!

[Offaly81]

Kinnittyman, I only suggeted that they lacked someone to urge them on and stop the slide when the poits start to pile on. Im not on here to butt heads. We don't even use any delaying tactics when we are under the cosh. When Offaly were coming back strong against galway the second game last year, Damien Hayes stood right in the small square as Dempsey was about to puck the ball out. It took ages for an offaly player to budge him. When Oakley was hit down in wexford in 09, nobody got stuck in behind him. I agree that the panel seem to get on well but what I was getting at was a better sense of teamwork in terms agression and tactics. Puckouts, a forward strategy, these are things that the management should have in place, and its up to the players to implement them. Our back line seems to have picked itself in recent years and they have coped well.
POTH is correct though, I have never seen our injury list and it showed yesterday that we just didnt have that strength and depth. Also, I don't know why people are laying into a player on his debut either, especially against a strong side with all the team underperforming.

[kingscounty]

whats the big deal been made about players on the injury table,10 or 11 of the team yesterday hurled with offaly on numerous occasions before so there should be no excuse there.maybe they know each other to well and they are to comfortable with each other.sounds like they need a captain or manager to take charge and drive them out the dressing room with fire in the belly and no fear in the head.when there is nothing expected of them they seem to do well,last week went to cork and put up a bit of a fight but when it came to playing in front of home crowd i suppose more pressure was on and maybe the fear got into the head.i guess all the negective comments on here wont help either,its just we are a proud county who want to do well and at least fight and have the hunger to do well and give it every thing to try and win.

[Bord na Mona man]

Like last week against Cork, there is no point in running Galway close (or even beating them) if we end up losing to Wexford.
Quite simply, due to hurling style, resources etc Offaly can't perform to a high level every week.
Lets hope the spring is being properly coiled for the important matches.

[Bord na Mona man]

In Damien Tiernan's book chronicling the story of Waterford hurling he says that in 2008 between the semi final and final the Waterford hurlers went on two weekends away doing bonding events such as you've mentioned. And what were Kilkenny doing during this time? They were training in Nowlan Park. Tiernan estimates that the Kilkenny hurlers acutally did 3 times as much ball work in the weeks leading up to the final as Waterford. 3-30 to 1-13 tells it's own tale. Now obviously this isn't the only reason that result came about but it had an effect. Even the Waterford hurlers upon reflection said they should have been training.

Hindsight is 20:20.
Had Waterford won, the consensus would have been that Kilkenny lost it by burning themselves out, while Waterford get themselves mentally right.

I remember in 1991 before the 4th game of the Dublin-Meath saga, Sean Boylan brought the Meath team to Scotland for a few days to clear their heads and lots of them attributed this to helping them win. Had Dublin won (they were extremely unlucky), it would have been equally claimed that sticking to their normal training regime won it for them.

[hectors horse]

Have to agree with POTH re the injuries, there is a massive amount of what will be championship regulars missing.

It's safe to assume that Joe Brady, Derek Molloy, & Daniel Currams will more than likely start in the forwards come championship. Add in what looks a likely midfield partnership of Rory Hanniffy and Conor Mahon both missing, an only half fit David Kenny, and no Paul Cleary, Brendan Murphy or David Franks available.

Name me any county that would have beaten Galway yesterday with at least 7 or 8 definite championship starters missing!!

Just to try to explain a couple of things to you kinnittyman from another supporters viewpoint. The team was named during the week with Rory Hanniffy and Conor Mahon as the intended midfield pairing and both didn't make it through the week so the management obviously decided to try something different. From having watched Diggy Cordial for a good number of years now at club and county level, I think I would be of the same opinion as most other reasonably minded observers in thinking that his attitude is not of the required standard to compete at this level and indeed at club level when the going gets tough. The moves left a vacancy at full forward where Paul Bermingham was given a go. Based on the few Walsh Cup games that Offaly have played, he deserved a run but didn't make much headway against John Lee, which is no great shame on a man making his inter county debut. Paul spent 2010 in America so that is you didn't see him play championship for Lusmagh.

As for whatever absolute tool that said Bermingham was a disgrace, I too wait for your debut... Should be good!!

[wazzaman]

Pual Birmingham AKA Pink Panter running around with a stick.. one word sums up that performance.. depressing!!

We looked terribly unfit and heavy legged compared 2 galway ,You'd wonder want kind of training these lads are doing someone as to be held acountable for this?? is it the manager or the players out drinkin, thinking their superstars on a night out in their local..

Wel im sick of it paying good money to watch this stuff i suppose thats the life of an Offaly GAA Fan.

The county board have to be held responable for this they appoint the manager who as no experience and i know for a fact,
Tried to get the limerick job in the summer thats the reason why Dooley stalled on deciding to stay on as manager for another year fact!

[townblue]

its a waste of money by training our hurlers and footballers any more ..........it costs a bomb and neither have any hope of winning any leinster never mind a all ireland in the next 10 years ......................should the money not be used for clubs i am sick seeing crap club players wearing our county jersey !!!!!!!!!!

[Lone Shark]

(1) This is February
(2) We actually only played that badly for the first half. The second half was into a gale force wind with fourteen men and we lost that half by ten points - which was probably only two or three worse than par for that wind. After all, a lot of Galway's scores in the second half came when Offaly would do two or three good things, and then the ball fell to a Galway half back or midfielder who popped the ball over from between eighty and a hundred yards out. They were doing 25% of the hurling and getting 75% of the scores.
(3) I don't know Paul Bermingham from Adam to meet him, however for all the abuse lads are giving him on here, he was no worse than three or four others, including our captain for this year. Now maybe Paul Bermingham is way out of his depth, in which case he could hardly be blamed for having a poor day at the office, or else he was just off form and didn't get the run of the ball, just like Shane Dooley.
(4) I do think Joe Dooley overplays the injury card, and particularly when a big reason why we have no strength in depth is because for the first three years of his reign, he stuck with the same core group and never gave anyone else a look in. It's hardly a surprise then that when we go out against Galway, who usually give about thirty players at least an hour of playing time over the league, that we can't match them for depth.

[bracknaghboy]

The real problem here is that even if Joe Dooley had no injury worries and had a panel of the best 30 hurlers in the county available he still wouldn't know what his best 15 were and where to position them. This is in my opinion unacceptable for a manager into his forth year with the team.

[black and red exile]

Jaysus some of the crap that deadbrains have wrote on this game on this site beggars belief, ye call yourselves supporters, ye are pathetic, do any of you idiots actually think the lads went out yesterday to perform like that to get such a hiding, everyone of those players yesterday gave 100 per cent as always, every one of those players will have been very hurt and embarassed at the final whistle, last night and when they woke up this morning, they don't want abuse or insults threw at them from their own fellow county men who hide behind computer screens and who are trying to get cheap laughs by saying outrageous stuff about certain players, there is rubbish said about Paul Bermingham here that is disgusting, he tried his best just like all his teamates and the cabbages that abused him with their muck should if they have any savvy hang their heads in shame. The truth is there is only a handful of guys on this site who speak sense and if they offer critisism its constructive critisism, basically because they know what they are talking about, the rest of ye are a disgrace.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Some of ye have overstepped the mark with the criticism here. It’s one thing pointing out deficiencies in the play of particular players but there’s no place for name-calling. While this is a public forum and all contributions are welcome, if you’re not able to articulate why Shane Dooley or Paul Birmingham underperformed then maybe you’re best keeping your comments to yourself.

Remember these are amateur players doing this for the love of the game. They’re doing this for themselves and their team mates – they’re not doing it for a few morons in the crowd who won’t be seen again until the summer. No-one goes out to hurl badly and most people with even the most casual interest in sport know this.

So you paid €13 to get in and were disappointed. Happens from time to time. So you backed Offaly to win or on the handicap. More fool you. Most students of form know not to use Offaly hurlers as a form guide. Item 1: Carlow draw with Offaly in Carlow, then lose to Down, then beat Laois. Item 2: Cork beat Offaly by five points at home, then shudda drew with Kilkenny away.

I was taken aback with the reaction of some of the crowd yesterday on the announcement of Shane Dooley’s substitution. It seemed to me he was even more unpopular than Brian Cowen for 70 minutes. They’re probably the same people who cheered Shane to the rafters when he nailed that free against Galway in Croke Park in June. They would have done the same in Parnell Park three weeks earlier only they weren’t there.

For some reason Shane was off his game yesterday, his touch was poor and he fumbled alot of ball. He hasn’t become a bad hurler though, and I’m sure he’ll be back in form the next day.

As for the match, I watched the match in the company of Lone Shark. He made the point he covered in his point (b) above during the second half and I agreed with him. I still do. Offaly hurled a world of ball during the second half. Colin Egan and Joseph Bergin caught an amount of ball and there were some good passing moves put together. Thing was, the final pass was too often fumbled, Galway gathered and, with Offaly on the front foot, Galway attacked into the space.

As for Galway, Tannian won’t have that kind of day again, and a performance like that in the air won’t trouble any Munster team in summertime.

‘Tis only the league. How did Offaly do in the championship five, ten, twenty years ago? Who was full-back, centre-back, took the frees? Everyone knows off the top of their heads. How did they do in the League the same year? Who was full-back, centre-back, took the frees? Nope? Me neither.
QED.

[Lone Shark]

I was taken aback with the reaction of some of the crowd yesterday on the announcement of Shane Dooley’s substitution. It seemed to me he was even more unpopular than Brian Cowen for 70 minutes. They’re probably the same people who cheered Shane to the rafters when he nailed that free against Galway in Croke Park in June. They would have done the same in Parnell Park three weeks earlier only they weren’t there.

For some reason Shane was off his game yesterday, his touch was poor and he fumbled alot of ball. He hasn’t become a bad hurler though, and I’m sure he’ll be back in form the next day.

My gut feeling is that the reaction to that substitution was as much aimed at the fact that it had taken so long for the decision to be made, allied to who was making the decision. There isn't a single person in the crowd who wouldn't have Shane Dooley as the first man on the teamsheet for the next match, and if there is, they obviously were there to watch the football and had never seen the man hurl before in their lives. Any player can have a bad day, but no player should be seen as untouchable and by leaving him on so long when he was clearly so off his game, Joe Dooley left the door open for that kind of reaction.

[Certainly Gerry]

For some reason Shane was off his game yesterday, his touch was poor and he fumbled alot of ball. He hasn’t become a bad hurler though, and I’m sure he’ll be back in form the next day

.


Not making excuses etc, etc, but Shane Dooley had a very bad flu last week. Simple as that. With the way some lads behave on this forum you'd wonder if lads like Shane will be willing to risk injuries or their health in future games for the good of their county with the abuse they get.

[Plain of the Herbs]

That's good enough for me anyway. People get the 'flu. Happens.
And there are far worse times for an inter-county GAA player to get the 'flu than February.
Cheers for the news, CG.

Not making excuses etc, etc, but Shane Dooley had a very bad flu last week. Simple as that. With the way some lads behave on this forum you'd wonder if lads like Shane will be willing to risk injuries or their health in future games for the good of their county with the abuse they get.

And if anyone is thinking of posting along the lines of: but Brian Whelahan scored 1-6 in the All-Ireland with the 'flu - Just don't.